The Freeze

Some thoughts about the settlement freeze:

It’s 100% clear that the freeze will not cause the Palestinian Authority (PA) to ‘come to the table’. They have already said that it is insufficient because it doesn’t include Jerusalem, doesn’t include construction already under way, etc.

However, once the principle is accepted that Israeli concessions without reciprocity from the Palestinians or other Arab nations are appropriate, pressure will increase for Israel to take the next step, and the next…

I don’t know if Obama Administration officials realized the degree and depth of opposition that Israel’s government would face from residents of Judea and Samaria. If they did, the imposition of the pointless freeze is a deliberate attempt to produce civil strife within the state of Israel — an act of aggression as blatant and more dangerous than a Qassam rocket. If they didn’t understand, why didn’t Netanyahu tell them?

The Roadmap calls for a settlement freeze as part of Phase I. It also calls for the Palestinians to stop incitement of hatred and terrorism against Israel, and for them to “[begin] sustained, targeted, and effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure.” Only after Phase I is complete can there be movement to Phases II and III. Perhaps it’s time to ask why the PA hasn’t met its responsibilities?

The justification for the freeze is that construction in the territories ‘prejudges’ the final outcome. But the freeze suggests an acceptance of the Palestinian demand for “every centimeter” of the area occupied by Jordan in 1949, something that even the Obama administration has opposed.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 2:23 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “The Freeze”

If Obama and his aides have any sense they will now understand that all that they are doing is weakening Israel by causing the civil stife you mention. They will too understand by now that so long as they have no means of really pressuring the Arab side there is no hope of any real negotiation. Some would maintain that even were they have to real means the forces are so great against any agreement that no Arab government or entity will dare move towards real peace with Israel. Obama is not wholly responsible for Turkey’s wholly moving away from Israel but he certainly has some part in this.
So we can say for this Administration ‘So far so bad’ and the ineptness makes the future even more worrisome.